Christian Horner: Mercedes didn’t intentionally break the rules

Mercedes did not break the rules with their rear wing in Friday qualifying at Interlagos, according to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

After Lewis Hamilton was thrown out of Friday qualifying in Brazil for a Drag Reduction System (DRS) infringement, which saw his rear wing flap open too far, Red Bull team manager Christian Horner thinks Mercedes intended to contravene the Technical Regulations.

The stewards stated in their decision that they did not believe there was any intent in the design or operation of the components that resulted in a regulation violation, which Horner agreed with.

“People don’t design things on purpose to break regulations, because that would obviously be illegal,” Horner said.

“You wouldn’t design something purposely to break a regulation. That’d be very naughty.”

The simple explanation for the violation, according to Horner, is that Mercedes is simply pushing the performance envelope too far.

“Engineers will always push to the limit and these regulations, if you look at them, they’re like an encyclopedia,” he said.

“Trying to translate and interpret them, engineers will always push boundaries, and we’ve seen that this year.

“We’ve been challenged, Mercedes have been challenged, and it gives the FIA a headache, because they’ve got to police it.”

“Not the difference in qualifying”

Horner went on to say that the rear wing violation did not play a significant effect in Hamilton’s pole position in qualifying, when he finished four tenths clear of second-placed Max Verstappen.

“I don’t know how much it was over… It wouldn’t be massive, it’d be incremental,” added Horner.

“But there’s a test that it has to pass. I don’t think that was the difference between him getting the pole or not yesterday.

“They’ve got tremendous straight-line speed. They put a new engine in, they’re pretty potent when they’re new and they degrade as they go, and they’ve done that for a reason.”

Horner said it’s time to focused on the on-track action now that the situation has been cleared after 20 hours of deliberation.

“Whatever’s happened, happened. It is what it is,” he said.

“We’re certainly not dwelling on that. We’re very much focused on ourselves. I’m just glad it’s not us in that situation.”

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